Carol’s Comments March
2020
Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of Carol’s
Comments. After the Christmas holidays, I decided to focus on women’s
history and movies (two of my favorite subjects) by reading historical fiction
and memoirs (two of my favorite genres) during the winter.
When I finished The Chaperone last fall, the St.
Joseph County Public Library’s online catalog suggested I might enjoy reading Finding
Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts. After skimming through a brief synopsis of
the novel, I found the book’s plot very intriguing so I quickly checked out a
copy.
Set primarily in 1938 Hollywood, Letts’ compelling
novel revolves around Maud Gage Baum, L. Frank Baum’s widow who visits the MGM
studio during the filming of The Wizard of Oz. There she meets
the young 16 year old star Judy Garland. Letts intertwines the Wizard
of Oz movie with detailed flashbacks to Maud Baum’s early life in the late
19th and early 20th century as irrepressible feminist
Matilda Joslyn Gage’s headstrong and very independent daughter.
These flashbacks give the reader a very vivid
glimpse of her life by revealing how many elements of it were integrated into
her husband’s classic children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published
in 1900. Much like Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone, the storyline describing
Maud Baum’s remarkable life with L. Frank
Baum was much more riveting than the one centering on Judy Garland and Maud’s
efforts to protect her as well as the integrity of the character she portrays.
Finding
Dorothy is a very well researched and enchanting
historical novel that will delight everyone especially Wizard of Oz book and
film fans. I highly recommend it.
Next I chose The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes’ new
bestselling novel and latest Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick after reading a positive
review in The New York Times Book Review.
Set mainly in Depression era Kentucky, Moyes’ enthralling
book centers on Englishwoman Alice Wright who marries American Bennett Van
Cleve and then moves to her husband’s family home in Baileyville, a small
Kentucky town in Southern Appalachia. Her hasty marriage proves hardly the
exciting romantic adventure she imagined. Fortunately, after learning that the
WPA plans to establish a system of mobile libraries specifically in Kentucky
along with other states, Alice sees this as the perfect opportunity to provide
and promote literacy to the local community in Lee County. Officially known as
the WPA Packhorse Library, the service delivered books to rural residents by
horseback four days a week.
Margery O’Hare, a very unconventional, fiercely independent
and outspoken young woman leads the group of five trailblazing librarians who
soon become known as “the book ladies.” Despite Alice’s father-in-law Geoffrey Van
Cleve’s determined and nefarious efforts to interfere and possibly shut down
the Packhorse Library, the program ultimately prevails and thrives.
Furthermore, these intrepid librarians also successfully and cleverly solve a
murder mystery that unjustly implicated their friend and leader Margery.
Filled with many colorful and multidimensional
characters, The Giver of Stars paints a very realistic and fascinating
portrait of life in 1930’s Kentucky by accurately describing a little known WPA
program that enriched people’s lives through the power of books and reading.
The WPA’s Packhorse Library service existed from 1935-1943. At most, it brought
books to more than 100,000 rural residents.
I’ve loved Julie Andrews ever since I saw Mary
Poppins as a child in 1964. In fact, my mother let me stay up late and
watch the Academy Awards when Andrews won the Best Actress Oscar for the role.
So when I learned from a New York Times By the Book interview that the actress had recently published a new
autobiography, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, I definitely knew I
had to read it.
Andrews second memoir written with her daughter Emma
Walton Hamilton, chronicles the singer/actress’ Hollywood years from 1963
through 1986.
The best parts of the book extensively and lovingly
focus on her experiences filming Mary Poppins and then The
Sound of Music released in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Although I
enjoyed reading about her later films like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii and
Victor/Victoria directed by her second husband Blake Edwards, I found
the chapters which concentrated on her personal life (especially with Edwards)
rather tiresome and a bit boring.
Fortunately, Andrews’ memoir does feature a
marvelous introduction that extensively recaps her life from musical child
prodigy through her London and Broadway stage career in The Boy Friend and her
respective memorable roles as Eliza Doolittle and Guinevere in My
Fair Lady and Camelot. This section is most
helpful for people who haven’t read her first memoir Home. Despite its flaws, Home
Work is the definitive autobiography for all Julie Andrews fans.
The books reviewed in this blog can be found at most
local public libraries. My readers in St Joseph County, Indiana can visit the
St Joseph County Public Library’s web site at sjcpl.org for additional
information, Thanks for reading! See you all next time.
